Farmers at work on a sisal pilot plantation in the Republic of Tanzania.© IFAD/Robert Grossman

ROME, Italy, 26 September 2012 – Ever since IFAD was established in 1977, Africa has been central to its global mission. Last year, for example, loans and grants in sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 43 per cent of IFAD’s investments. This support is guided by the conviction that agricultural development must be advanced in Africa, by Africans, for Africans, and that sustainable change cannot be imposed from the outside.

But do African countries have the right policies in place to transform agriculture, reduce poverty and ensure food security for the continent’s most vulnerable households?

This week in Arusha, Tanzania, participants in the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) aim to answer that question. Heads of state, ministers, farmers and scientists have gathered at the three-day forum, along with representatives of agribusiness firms, financial institutions, NGOs and civil society organizations. Together, they plan to develop concrete policy and investment plans for scaling up agricultural success in Africa.

Making markets work
One prerequisite for success is providing farmers with access to markets through which they can sell their products at competitive prices. In Africa, like much of the developing world, small-scale farmers still face big disadvantages in this regard. They have low volumes of food to sell, limited crop-storage capacity and scant information about market conditions. Poor roads and other rural infrastructure exacerbate the problem.

At the AGRF meeting, a leadership policy roundtable – entitled ‘Making African National and Regional Agricultural Markets Work’ – will address how to overcome these obstacles. IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze is the keynote speaker for the session, one of six roundtables to be held during the event.

The roundtable will highlight the unprecedented opportunities for agriculture in Africa, building upon its rich human and natural resources, its fast-growing population and the purchasing power of its expanding middle class. Africa already leads all other regions in the growth of its agricultural sector. What’s more, it has the world’s largest share of uncultivated land with potential for growing rain-fed crops.

To take full advantage of the opportunities at hand, however, smallholder farmers – who cultivate 80 per cent of the cropland in Africa – need far more accessible markets. Participants in the AGRF roundtable will discuss the key steps that governments and investors can take to meet that need.

		Gari sellers wait for customers at a market in Ghana. © IFAD/Nana Kofi Acquah

Transforming agriculture
“When small farmers in developing countries double and triple their yields, it is only the first step on the road to food security and economic development,” Nwanze said before departing for the forum in Arusha. “If we can ensure that food gets efficiently, safely from the farmer’s field to the market,” he added, “we can start to see true economic growth and transformation for Africa.”

Such a transformation will require public policies that foster good governance, attract responsible investors and protect the environment. To these ends, IFAD believes that African nations must deepen the foundations of democracy and ensure political stability, which is critical to economic growth. Among other steps, they must also:

• Improve roads and other rural infrastructure for better transport and sales
• Help smallholder households build their resilience and coping mechanisms in the face of climate change and economic shocks
• Invest in employment opportunities for young rural people, both on and off the farm, so that they can build a future in their home communities rather than migrating to urban centres.

Even as Africa’s agricultural sector continues to develop and grow, the task of making it more sustainable and commercially viable will be a challenge for the leaders, investors and development partners who are gathered at this week’s AGRF meeting. But the alternative – continuing rural poverty and food insecurity for years to come – is a losing proposition for Africa and the world.